Building new roads and repairing old roads, constructing bridges and culverts and macadamizing of existing roads plus allied tasks are receiving priority attention by the State as well as the Governments. A good amount out of the 80,000 crore rupees developmental package for J&K announced by the Prime Minister is allocated to the road connectivity in the State. The reason for frugal allocations to the connectivity item is based on geographical and topographical conditions of the State. Most of it is hilly and many of the hills particularly in Shivalik-Trikuta range are made up of soil and sand elements. As such, these hills and mountains are prone to landslides and mudslides during the rainy season causing not only road blocks but also jeopardizing normal life of the people in rural parts of the State. In view of this factor, there is justification for the Central and the State Governments to make frugal allocations to road connectivity projects.
‘In a review meeting chaired by the chief minister and attended by the ministers and high ranking officers of different departments, the chief minister took stock of what improvement was made in the building the identified road projects and how much of work remained to be completed. As we know, the Surface Transport Department of the Union Government has been monitoring the progress of roads and bridges including the projects that come under the PMGSY. There have been reports that some parts of the identified roads that were to be taken up UN the central scheme PMGST have not shown the desired progress and need to be galvanized into action. For example, in a recent item on Srinagar-Banihal stretch of National Highway-1 it was told that its four-laning had become a much delayed matter and in fact for quite some time the contractor had stopped the work charging the Government with inordinately delaying land acquisition process. As the process is tardy and time consuming it has had its impact on the completion of Srinagar-Qazigund stretch in time. We are aware that construction of a number of new and old roads and some bridges is going on and some of these are likely to be completed soon. However, an impression has been created with the ordinary people that the pace of road building or repairing or macadamizing is going on a snail’s pace. The Chief Minister has indirectly hinted at it and said that not observing the time frame results in cost escalation besides creating a sense of despondency among the people who would be benefited most by these projects if completed in time. While talking about new roads she mentioned some of these like Samba-Mansar road, Magam-Beerwah road, Ladoora-Achabal road, Gingal-Bijhama road, Rs. 158 cr Keerian Gandial bridge, Lisser road, Jothana bridge in Kathua, Sangam-Srigufwara road, Rs 76 cr Kotranka-Khwaas road, Awantipora-Tral road project and other works; many of which are likely to be completed by this year end or next year.
Meanwhile, the widening and upgrading work on 170 kilometers on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway has been completed at a cost of Rs. 5011 crore while as work is in full swing on the balance portion of the Highway, including some tunnels and by passes. It will be new have noted with satisfaction that the Governor is keenly interested the executing agencies bringing the massive project of improvement of road connectivity to its logical conclusion. Chairman National Highways Authority of India, called on Governor N.N. Vohra at the Raj Bhavan in Srinagar and conveyed to him the official decision of making the four-laned highway most attractive by planting trees and flowers on both sides of the road and also providing kiosks at open spaces along the highway where sundry amenities would be available to the passengers. The Chief Minister is right in saying that once the Jammu -Srinagar highway is four-laned and made functional it will change the life and economy of the people in the entire State. The Chief Minister was also briefed on the project of constructing circular or outer ring road for the two capital cities, a project to which the Union Minister for Roads and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari had referred while speaking on Modi Government’s road building plans.
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